Chair-bombing

Brooklyn, New York

2011

When San Francisco passed the Sit-Lie Ordinance in 2011 banning sitting or lying on sidewalks, it crystallized a stance that many cities worldwide seem to have adopted over the years, to dissuade public sitting by removing benches or implementing other subtle anti-loitering urban design measures. Enter chair-bombing. This tactic involves placing homemade seating in public spaces “to improve comfort, social activity, and [their] sense of place,” in Aurash Khawarzad’s words. Khawarzad is an urban planner and leader of DoTank, a Brooklyn-based activist design collective that fashions Adirondack chairs from discarded shipping pallets. “These benches are more than places to sit,” reads a note pasted to a San Francisco bench-bomb in protest of Sit-Lie. “They are a visual resistance to the privatization of public space.”

Community, Pleasure, Sustainability

0

1 day

5 - 10

Problem - need for more vibrant public space

Solution - use reclaimed wooden pallets for public seating

FB + Twitter

Governors Island 2016

JUNE + JULY, 2016

Hisense UEFA EURO 2016 Official Viewing Zone on Governors Island is in conjunction with Spontaneous Interventions' summer residency on Governors Island. To see photos of the event, please visit WorldCupPartyNYC on Facebook